


The Magnussen Files

by Dahiandra



Category: Sherlock (TV), The Blacklist (US TV)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:55:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24527242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dahiandra/pseuds/Dahiandra
Summary: Some secrets are never meant to be revealed.When Edmund Childs goes missing, the world starts a race to find the only person he ever trusted: his wife.The secrets that Edmund wasn’t willing to give up now hang over Elizabeth Childs’ head, but what if the secrets she holds aren’t something you can take? What is the secret is Elizabeth herself?When the world starts a race to find the only person who can speak the truth, Elizabeth is forced to go to the only person in the world willing to protect her.Raymond Reddington.
Relationships: Elizabeth Keen/Tom Keen | Jacob Phelps, Raymond Reddington/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 11





	The Magnussen Files

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in the universe of The Blacklist, though it borrows concepts and mentions other shows (mainly BBC's Sherlock and Criminal Minds), you may consider it a crossover if you like. 
> 
> This story follows our main character, Elizabeth 'Beth' Childs, either through her own eyes of the eyes of those around her. The story is written in third person. 
> 
> The Magnussen Files takes place four months after the first episode of The Blacklist, and although it does follow the canon timeline, it doesn't necessarily follow the cases presented in the show. This story features characters from The Blacklist, Criminal Minds and Sherlock. 
> 
> I don't own the Blacklist or any of the other shows mentioned. I only own Beth Childs and the plotline built around her.

Elizabeth Childs (n. 53)

The Taskforce had been working with Raymond Reddington for four months now. Ever since he had turned himself in to the FBI and helped save the little girl, the man had been feeding the taskforce a steady stream of criminals, each one of them a name on what he liked to call his personal blacklist. The amount of criminals apprehended was growing consistently, and although Harold Cooper had clear suspicions about Reddington’s true intentions, he couldn’t deny that having him as an informant was like stumbling on a gold mine. 

Elizabeth Keen stared at the screen, the name Elizabeth Childs flashing across it along with the sole picture they had of their latest target. The image was blurry, but not hazy enough to conceal her appearance. The woman appeared to be in her late thirties, she had black hair and deep hazelnut eyes. She didn’t appear to have any defining attributes except for a small scar on her upper lip. The image had been taken by a security camera at a gas station somewhere in Nevada, local authorities had tried to apprehend her, but by the time they arrived, she was gone.   
“Allow me to introduce our latest target, Elizabeth Childs” Reddington spoke as he walked into the Post Office, Dembe and Luli following closely behind him. 

The man didn’t have any particular feelings regarding the Taskforce, it was just a means to an end, and now the he had found Elizabeth Childs, that end was getting closer and closer. Reddington made his way across the room until he was facing the screen, eyes scanning the image with a satisfied grin. He’d been looking for the woman for a long time, and now, he had finally cornered her to the point that she allowed herself to be caught in camera for the first time in months.   
“I’m sorry, but Childs as in Edmund Childs, the former assistant of the president and chief of staff Childs?” Ressler asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.   
Reddington smiled. Of course, he had expected for someone on the team to figure it out, though at this point he had hoped Meera Malik would have been the one to make the connection. Thought, in hindsight, it wasn’t that big of a surprise. 

They would have found out eventually, and concealing the man’s identity, and therefore his wife, wasn’t even conceivable considering they were talking about the president’s right hand. Well, his previous right hand. The Concierge of Crime corrected himself.   
“The one and only” Reddington said as he turned to face the rest of the team “Unfortunately, the man went missing two years ago after what was believed to be a naval accident”  
Elizabeth crossed her arms.   
“Let me guess, it wasn’t as much of an accident as it was murder” she concluded, staring once again at the picture of the woman.

Elizabeth Childs seemed, for a lack of a better word, completely harmless. However, Elizabeth Keen was a profiler, and she knew that appearances were often just that, appearances.   
“Not exactly” Reddington said, taking off his hat and leaving in on top of one of the tables “True, it was no accident, and Edmund did die”   
The man moved to the front of the room, taking the remote of the screen and changing to another image, this time it was a man, laying face down on a hotel room with his eyes wide open and a pool of blood staining the white sheets. Elizabeth flinched as she fought the urge to look away, in her lifetime she had seen many gruesome crime scenes, but she had never seen something like that.   
“However, he died fourteen months later” Reddington stated. 

Meera stared at the picture. Despite the bad quality of the photography and the strange positioning of the body, it was an image she was quite familiar with. She was CIA, and as such, she had seen her fair share of interrogations gone wrong.   
“He was tortured” she assured, not a single doubt on her mind.   
“Yes. I believe whoever staged the boat accident wanted everyone to believe he was dead in order to interrogate him” he turned, stealing a glance to the photograph “And guessing by the state of his body” he pointed towards his torn fingernails and the missing teeth “he never talked”   
Agent Keen glared at the man. Elizabeth Childs. Edmund Childs. The assistant of the president and chief of staff. It was all coming together.   
“That’s why you want to find Elizabeth Childs” she said “Because you believe that whatever Edmund knew, he told his wife” 

That’s what this is all about. Elizabeth thought. Presidential secrets. 

…

Beth Childs exited the car slowly, boots digging in the mud as she jumped from the truck, cold air hitting her pale skin.   
“Thank you” she said once she was finally down, the dim lights of the gas station illuminating her face.  
Nightfall had come quickly, the woman had been traveling across the country for a long time now, but it was time to move on to greener pastures. She couldn’t stay in the US any longer, she needed to get out before whoever was trying to find her succeeded in their task.   
“Thank you” the driver answered as he flipped through the roll of money the woman had given him. 

The driver looked around. The place was almost completely deserted safe for the gas station which was the only building for miles. He’d been traveling with Beth for a long time, and although the two hadn’t even exchanged names, it wasn’t hard to figure out she was running from someone. What the driver didn’t know, is that ‘someone’ was actually ‘everyone’.   
“Are you sure this is where you want me to drop you?” he asked, unsure “I can drive you to the city, I’m sure it’s safer there” he tried  
Beth bit her lip. She hadn’t expected to run out of places to hide so soon, but whoever was following her was getting closer. She still had lots of money, Edmund had made sure of it before he disappeared, but money wouldn’t buy her protection from those who wanted her.   
Beth pressed her lips into a tight line a forced a smile.  
“It’s okay, I know a guy”   
It wasn’t a complete lie. It was okay, mainly because she didn’t allow herself to think that it might be anything else but okay. And she did know a guy, she knew lots of guys, which is probably what had gotten her in this mess in the first place. The woman walked away and watched as the truck, her only means of transportation, drove away into the night. She was alone now. 

Beth turned around, staring at the deserted gas station before taking a deep breath and walking towards the entrance. She nodded towards the clerk, who didn’t even bother looking at her as he was engrossed in a porn magazine. Two years ago, she would’ve scolded the man and told him it was indecent, but now, as long as he wasn’t trying to kill her, she didn’t care.  
“Do you have a phone?” she asked clasping her hands together in an attempt to warm them up.  
Although she was wearing gloves, it was quite a harsh winter in Nevada, and she hadn’t had a good night sleep or a warm meal for days. She was tired, and sluggish, which made her an easy target. 

But Beth Childs couldn’t allow herself to be an easy target, so she bit her lip and pressed her hands together.   
The man raised his head, eyes scanning Beth’s body with a filthy look. The woman’s breath hitched in her throat. She unconsciously grasped the hilt of the knife she wore concealed under her coat. The man wasn’t much bigger than her, she could take him easily, stab him in the stomach and slit his throat, just to make sure. The hard part would be dragging the body outside and digging a grave in the frozen mud. 

She was tired of digging graves, but she knew that leaving a trail of bodies wasn’t much of an alternative.   
The man scoffed, going back to his magazine.  
“It’s out back” he said in a bored tone, eyeing one of the busty Asians that appeared in the page he was reading.  
Beth nodded and stepped outside where she was once again greeted by the cold winter air. There, in the distance, she spotted the phone cabin. She hadn’t seen one in a long while, and for a moment she was grateful that the government was lazy enough to not replace them now that phones were a common commodity. 

Beth inserted the coins, she didn’t have many of them left, and she knew that asking for change was really pushing her luck. With shaking hands, she dialled the only number she knew by heart. No, that’s a lie. She thought while pressing the last digit. I’m dialling the only person who I know will pick up.   
“Charles?” she asked, trembling fingers holding the phone against her ear, longing to hear the voice on the other side.   
Silence. One minute passed. Then two. The night was getting colder, and Beth could no longer feel her toes. But she waited anyway, because truth to be told, there was nothing else she could do.   
“Beth”   
The woman let out a sigh of relief, a cloud of warm air rising in the sky.   
“I need your help” she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek.  
Two years ago, she would have been full on crying, panic attack and heart beating madly in her chest, but after everything that had happened, a single tear was all she had left. Elizabeth had been running for so long, getting rid of everything she used to be just in order to hide from the people who wanted her. It was unfair, and cruel.   
“They found me” she continued, looking around to make sure she was alone “I don’t know how, but they did” 

It was a bold statement, but she knew it was the only way to make Charles truly listen. Truth to be told, they hadn’t found her. Why? Because they had known where she was all along. There was a pause on the other side of the line.  
“The Cabal”  
It wasn’t really a question, as Charles knew she wouldn’t have the answer. Beth bit her lip, and anxious feeling settling at the pit of her stomach.   
“I don’t know, but whoever they are… they think I have it” another tear rolled down her cheek “They think I have the Vault, the Fulcrum… everything” 

Ah. So, this is what it’s all about. Charles Magnussen thought as he sat in his living room, hidden in his mansion, somewhere in the middle of the England, far away enough from the Cabal and under the protection of the British Government. They had offered the same gift to Beth, a long time ago. Instead, she chose to marry Edmund and moved to the States, giving up the sweet protection she had been offered.   
“They think Edmund gave it to me” she continued, the freezing air engulfing her small figure.   
Charles laughed. It was deep, hollow sound, and it chilled Beth to the bone. It always had, even when they were both children and her last name was still Magnussen.   
“We both know that’s a lie” he drank a sip of his wine “You’re the one who gave it to him” 

Beth stilled. How Charles had gotten that information? She didn’t know, and unfortunately for her, he wasn’t wrong. Elizabeth Childs had found the Fulcrum, and, in a moment of utter stupidity, had given it to her husband. Which is why she knew with complete certainty, that Edmund Childs was dead.   
“Please… help me” she pleaded “Tell Mycroft I’ll take the deal” the tears were now falling freely, freezing before they reached the floor and trailing down her face.   
Charles took a bite out of one of the apples that he had lying around. It was a very villainous thing to do, and if Beth had been able to see him in that moment, she would have known. But since she was miles away, on the other side of the planet, she couldn’t do anything but wait.   
“Mycroft has no interested in you now that he has me” Charles pointed out, staring at the red apple in front of him “Whatever you know, I know too”   
Beth bit her lip, the taste of blood spreading in her mouth.   
“But, since you’re my kid sister, I’ll help you” he smiled “I’ll send someone, stay put”   
And just like that, the line went dead. 

…

“What do we know about her?” Elizabeth Keen asked.  
The Taskforce had mobilized the moment that Reddington had revealed Elizabeth Childs’ true identity. While Ressler and Meera were heading to Nevada, Agent Keen and Aram had stayed behind to investigate their target. Now that Beth’s identity was no longer a secret, the amount of information they had access to had tripled.   
“Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Childs, born Elizabeth Lucille Magnussen, was born in Glasgow in 1977 to Alycia and Robert Magnussen. She has one brother, Charles, who owns various newspaper across the UK and a half brother who works for the BAU in Quantico”   
Elizabeth and Aram raised their heads, watching as Reddington strolled in the room. This time he was alone, which meant Dembe was already on his way to finding their latest blacklister. 

“How do you know all this?” Elizabeth asked, staring at Red with doubtful eyes.  
“Don’t look at me like that, Lizzy. It’s all public record” he spoke with a wide smile, staring at the board the taskforce had put together.  
Even with all the information available about the woman, the team still had managed to ignore everything that mattered. Though, in all honesty, they seemed to have very little intel about the criminal world in general, so Reddington wasn’t surprised  
“Beth married Edmund Childs in 2004, he became the assistant of the president and chief of staff in 2008 and fulfilled his duty until he went missing two years ago” Red continued, ignoring the team’s looks of disbelief.   
He pointed to the picture of Edmund’s body which had been printed and pinned to the board along with a string of other photographs, all depicting people from Beth’s life. 

“Now, whoever abducted Edmund Childs and tortured him believed he was privy to certain information. Presidential information” he clarified “When Edmund refused to speak, he was killed, which leaves the only other person he talked to; his wife” he pointed towards the image of Elizabeth Childs.  
Now that the team had been alerted of Beth’s true identity, they had been able to pull a decent picture from the database. In the image the woman wasn’t wearing an old coat and dirty clothes, she was wearing a beautiful black form fitting dress and her hair was pulled up in a perfectly slick ponytail. This was Elizabeth Childs before her whole world fell apart, before she became a fugitive of the law and the criminal underworld. 

“Why would Edmund tell his wife? It goes against protocol and he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to divulge secret presidential information” Aram pointed out.   
He’d been quite silent during the whole debriefing session, but now that he was noticing more and more holes in the story, he couldn’t help but point them out.   
“He isn’t and he wouldn’t” Reddington answered, smiling at Aram as if he was a child and he’d just figured out a maze in the back of a cereal box “Which is why I think Edmund knew they were coming from him”

…

Once the debriefing was over, Reddington excused himself and took out one of the satellite phones he always carried with him. It had become a habit, and it was the easiest way to reach his associates, especially when he was traveling internationally with his private jet.   
“How close are you?” he asked, patiently waiting for the response on the other side of the line.   
“Close” Dembe answered before hanging up.  
Red let out a sigh of relief. Locating Beth hadn’t been easy, and he knew that he wasn’t the only trying to find her. Not when she had the only thing that truly mattered. 

“What’s going on?”   
Red closed his eyes and pressed his lips into a fine line. He had hoped that Elizabeth would stay away from the whole matter, but the woman had been watching him intently instead, and in her watching, she had found that the man was acting strange. Even after having spent only four months with the man, Elizabeth had become quite good at picking up whenever he was feeling distressed.   
“Lizzy, my dear” he tried to dissuade the conversation, but Keen wasn’t willing to let it slide.  
“No, what aren’t you telling us?” she demanded.

Reddington let out a sigh, he was tired of hiding things from her, and this was something he could tell her. The man turned around until he was facing Elizabeth directly.   
“Lizzy, do you know what the VAULT is?” he asked.  
Elizabeth shook her head.  
“It’s a myth. Or at least we all though it was until its existence was confirmed two years ago” he paused, unsure on how to continue “It’s a record of everything this government and every other government have ever done. Secret projects, JFK’s assassination, nuclear launch codes… the VAULT is the single most important piece of information there is. And it was entrusted to Edmund Childs”   
Elizabeth’s breath stopped in her throat.  
“And you think he gave it to his wife” she glanced at the picture of Beth Childs they had pinned to the board.  
The woman was smiling, her arm was locked with her husband’s and the two were speaking to the president at a charity ball. 

It was in that exact moment that Elizabeth came to the realisation that Beth Childs didn’t deserve this.


End file.
